Chapter 33: : Chapter 33

“Having all my kids home is the best birthday present I could’ve asked for,” Malti, Ezra and Serenity’s mother, says, her arm wrapping around my shoulders.

Ezra pauses in the middle of the kitchen, a stack of plates in his hands. “You might as well just come out and say it, Mom. Archer is your favorite child, and he isn’t even yours.”

He throws me a withering glare, and I smirk back at him as I lean into Malti, reveling in the love I’m always showered with in this house. “He’s just jealous,” I tell her, and she squeezes my arm in response.

In the last decade, Ezra’s family has truly become my own family too. They were there when my grandfather disowned me, and then again when I ended things with Tyra, only for my life to implode shortly after. They’ve been there every step of the way as Ezra and I built our company from the ground up, and throughout the years, this is where I’d find myself when I had nowhere else to go.

Guilt eats at me at the thought of how badly we’d all be impacted if Serenity and I don’t wrap this thing between us up neatly, but at the same time, I can’t find it in me to regret being with her. The reservations I had are all gone, replaced by the way she makes me feel—the way she makes me want to live.

“Let her have her favorite,” Caleb, Ezra’s stepdad, says. He mirrors his wife’s stance and wraps his arm around Ezra with a kind smile on his face. “You’re my favorite child, after all.”

Ezra grins, and though they look vastly different, their smiles are the same. I’ve never once seen Caleb treat Ezra coldly or differently, and their bond is one I’ve always immensely admired. Caleb has always supported Ezra unconditionally, taking Ezra’s side against his wife at times. Most of our investment funds came from him, and he’s been refusing our repayments, let alone any interest we’ve tried to pay him.

“I’m sorry—what?”

Malti and Caleb both freeze at the sight of their daughter, who walks into the kitchen holding the party decorations she’d been tasked with finding. From the second we arrived, we’ve all been put to work, each of us responsible for different parts of tomorrow’s party. “You always do this,” Serenity says, her beautiful hazel eyes blazing with mock annoyance and her long, curly hair flowing over her chest. “When these two idiots are around, you both just forget I exist!”

“Yeah right,” Ezra says, shaking his head. “You know full well you’re the favorite child, so don’t you dare throw a fit.”

Serenity narrows her eyes as she dumps the decorations on the table. “Archer,” she snaps, grabbing a handful of balloons. “Stop monopolizing my mom’s love and help me blow these up.”

Malti just chuckles and throws me a sweet sympathetic look when I push off the counter to join Serenity at the table. “I don’t know where she got that temper of hers,” she whisper-shouts.

Caleb bursts out laughing and stares at his wife in disbelief, every single one of us aware that Serenity definitely got her temper from her mother. I merely shake my head and take the contraption Serenity hands me, using it to blow up the balloons she handed me while she strings them together to create an arch.

Halfway through, I reach for my phone and send her a text, wishing I could’ve just said the words.

Archer

for the record, you’re my favorite

She raises a brow when her phone buzzes on the table, and I watch her, loving the way she smiles when she reads my text. She raises her head, her gaze roaming over my face before she looks down again.

Serenity

I think you might be my favorite too

Archer

you think so? Sounds like you need some convincing

She and I continue to work on our balloons, stealing glances at each other while her family buzzes in and out of the room, and it’s surprisingly thrilling. It’s fun to have a secret that’s just ours, and it comes with a kind of intimacy I’ve never experienced before.

Serenity

what if I do?

Archer

come to my room tonight, and I’ll show you that you’re my favorite over and over again.

She smirks at her phone, desire blending with delight in those pretty eyes of hers, and I can’t for the life of me tear my gaze off her.

“Serenity, is Theo coming?” Malti asks, breaking the spell I was under.

She nods, and my smile melts away.

“He is?” I ask without thinking.

“Yeah, he’s driving down for it.” She smiles at her mom then. “You know he’d never miss your birthday.”

Malti looks her daughter over, a hint of concern crossing her face. “Is he bringing Kristen?”

Serenity tenses, and I look away, hating the way she reacts to Kristen’s name when it’s linked with Theo’s. “I’m not sure,” she says, her voice tinged with sadness. “He didn’t mention he would, and I didn’t ask.”

I stare at her as her mother leaves the room, leaving us alone. “Are you still in love with him?” I ask without thinking. They have so much history, and how the fuck could anyone compete with that? I can have her in my bed and make her moan my name, but it feels like the second she walks away from me, her thoughts drift back to him.

She looks up, uncertainty written all over her face. “I…I don’t know.”

I reach for another balloon and watch it inflate. “Do you truly not know, or are you reluctant to admit that you still have feelings for him?”

She takes a deep breath and looks to the side. “Does it matter?”

“What if I tell you it does?”

“Why?”

“It can’t be a surprise to you that I don’t enjoy sleeping with a woman who’d rather be with someone else.”

Her eyes widen, a hint of insecurity flickering through them, and it takes me a moment to realize how what I just said might have come across.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “You know I didn’t mean it like that, darling. You know what you do to me, how much I want you.”

She nods, but I can tell her feelings are hurt. “I know,” she murmurs, but I don’t think she does. There’s no way she could understand how fucking wild she drives me. “I know, Archer. That’s not the part that hurts. It’s the fact that it isn’t me who’d rather have someone else. It’s you.”

“You know that’s not true,” I say instantly, denying it.

She glances at my phone, and my heart sinks. My password. Fuck. “I don’t blame you,” she says, her voice trembling. “I understand. Truly, I do. I knew what I was getting into, but so did you.”